Abington leans on Dixon, energy to handle Cheltenham
ABINGTON >> There’s no good metric to measure energy in a basketball team other than a visual one.
Even to the casual eye, it was evident there was something different about the energy the Abington boys basketball team played with to start the third quarter of Tuesday’s game with Cheltenham. It is the type of rivalry and the type of game where records become irrelevant at the door to the gym, although this one did have quite a bit at stake.
The Panthers pushed the Galloping Ghosts, but Abington’s energy dictated it wasn’t about to let its biggest rival walk into its gym and leave with a win.
Behind a strong 31-point effort from Villanova-bound senior Eric Dixon, the Ghosts topped the Panthers 67-53 to take sole possession of first place in the SOL American conference.
“I really don’t have to say a lot to these guys, it’s Abington-Cheltenham,” Ghosts coach Charles Grasty said. “You throw first place on top of it, they were 6-0 like us and we wanted to try and stay on top, they get it. We had a nice crowd, both communities out supporting their team, so there’s not a lot that needs to be said as far as that.”
While Tuesday was their first meeting as conference foes with Abington joining the American this athletic year, the teams played every year in a nonleague game so there really wasn’t much extracurricular activity either team needed to be ready for this one.
The capacity crowd in Abington’s gym was treated to a real treat of a first half. Dixon, as he’s done to most every team the Ghosts (11-1, 7-0 conference) have faced this year, came out firing with eight first quarter points punctuated by a thunderous two-handed slam off a feed from Lucas Monroe in front of the Panthers’ student section to end the frame.
Yet, the Panthers led 17-16 after one thanks to a strong start from their own leading man, junior point guard Zahree Harrison. While his team left with a loss, Harrison played very well in scoring 19 points and took a positive outlook from his team’s performance.
“We’re a tough team, we’re not going to back down from anybody even in their gym and we’re ready to play in any environment,” Harrison said. “We came together. This was one of the first games where we really came together as a unit, especially on defense.”
Led by Harrison, Kyin Healey and Jaelen McGlone, the Panthers (9-5, 6-1) built and maintained a five-point edge for most of the second quarter. Their length and athleticism, coupled with a 1-3-1 zone defense, did a good job of forcing Abington to settle for a lot of jump shots.
Without Dixon, who scored nine of Abington’s first 11 points in the second quarter, the Panthers could have seized a greater advantage. Dixon ripped off six straight points to tie the game 27-27 with 2:10 left in the first half, then the teams traded four 3-pointers, with Abington’s Jack Moynihan hitting the last one, to take a 33-33 deadlock to the break.
“It was huge for one of our role players to step up like that, those guys come and work just as hard as the rest of us every day and don’t get much praise,” Dixon said. “For him to knock that big shot down, it meant a lot to us.”
In the break, the Ghosts talked about a couple adjustments but mostly about finding a next level of energy. They did, and then some, ripping off 10 straight points to open the third quarter.
Their first adjustment meant to combat Cheltenham’s zone put Monroe in the post, with the 6-foot-6 Penn recruit scoring two straight buckets on the block to open the half. The other was to amp up the pressure and Manir Waller and Monroe swiped back-to-back inbound passes to keep the run going.
“We were settling for a lot of jump shots, once in a while we’d go down to Dixon, but we wanted to get that zone to move a little so we put Lucas in the high post,” Grasty said. “Once we started getting easy ones, then we were able to turn them over and deny (Harrison) the ball, he’s a heck of a player so we wanted to make it tough on him.”
Cheltenham wasn’t out of the fight by any means and after another Abington run put the Ghosts up 49-37, the Panthers scored six straight to end the third. They made it nine in a row when McGlone hit a three to start the fourth and slice the lead down to three.
“They came out with a lot of energy and we lacked it,” Harrison said. “We came out strong, but in the second half we didn’t have that same energy. They started hitting shots and the crowd got into it, it didn’t really mess us up, but it definitely gave them the edge. We still fought to the end and we get to see them one more time.”
Dixon again provided his team some stability by getting fouled on a putback, hitting the and-1 and scoring the next six points for his team to restore a double-digit lead at 58-48 with 4:15 to go. The 6-foot-8 forward, who was double-teamed most of the night, shot 12-of-18 from the field, had six of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end and just put himself in position to give his team what it needed.
“We understand the importance of it, regardless of the record, regardless of the league, the community cares a lot about this game,” Dixon said. “To come out and get this win, it means a lot to me.
“I just had to be aware of where the double was coming from. My teammates talked me through it in the huddles and I got a good bead on it early, I read it early and tried to take advantage of it myself.”
After a Monroe free throw put the Ghosts up 11, McGlone and Harrison scored to get it back within seven points. Waller took over from there for Abington, scoring the next six for the Ghosts to give him 11 points, tying his career high.
“It was all energy and discipline,” Dixon said. “In the beginning, we were pretty helter-skelter and once we put our energy and discipline into it, it really helped us out. They have a good trap and put good pressure on, that 1-3-1 is tough and their point guard, Zahree, he really controlled the pace in the first half.”
The teams meet again in the regular season finale on Feb. 7 at Cheltenham. Monroe scored 15 points with eight rebounds and three steals while Maurice Henry had six assists for Abington. McGlone finished with 16 for the Panthers while Healey scored 13 with two assists.
Abington faces Springfield-Montco on Thursday, before heading out to Pittsburgh to take part in the MLK Weekend Stand Against Violence Showcase for a couple very tough games. Dixon, who now stands at 1,951 career points and is on the cusp of becoming the first 2,000-point scorer at Abington, felt Tuesday’s game was a good way to head into the later part of the week.
“A crowd like this is nice, but for it to be against Cheltenham is really what’s important,” Dixon said. “A packed house is fun, but it being against Cheltenham means more.”
ABINGTON 16 17 16 18 – 67
CHELTENHAM 17 16 10 10 – 53
Abington: Eric Dixon 12 7-9 31, Manir Waller 4 3-4 11, Maurice Henry 1 0-0 2, Darius Brown 2 0-0 5, Lucas Monroe 5 5-7 15, Jack Moynihan 1 0-0 3. Nonscoring: Derek Sussman. Totals: 25 15-20 67.
Cheltenham: Zahree Harrison 9 1-2 19, Tim Myarick 1 0-0 3, Jaelen McGlone 7 0-0 16, Kyin Healey 6 0-0 13, Brandon Scott 1 0-0 2, Jalen Mickens 0 0-2 0. Nonscoring: Mike McClain, Elijah Harvey, Justin Moore. Totals: 24 1-4 53.
3-pointers: A – Brown, Moynihan; C – McGlone 2, Myarick, Healey.
